Win Streak May Continue For Japan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, gathering almost 1,200 points or 3 percent in that span. The Nikkei 225 now rests just beneath the 39,650-point plateau and it's expected to extend its gains again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with technology shares expected to fuel the rally. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Nikkei finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the automobile producers and mixed performances from the financial shares and technology stocks.

For the day, the index rallied 618.27 points or 1.58 percent to finish at 39,646.25 after trading between 39,332.63 - 39,694.57.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor perked 0.05 percent, while Mazda Motor accelerated 2.14 percent, Toyota Motor strengthened 1.39 percent, Honda Motor added 0.64 percent, Softbank Group skyrocketed 10.62 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial shed 0.60 percent, Mizuho Financial fell 0.35 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial sank 0.76 percent, Mitsubishi Electric spiked 2.92 percent, Sony Group rallied 1.24 percent, Panasonic Holdings eased 0.03 percent and Hitachi soared 4.13 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher and spent all day in the green, ending near session highs.

The Dow jumped 130.92 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 44,156.73, while the NASDAQ surged 252.56 points or 1.28 percent to close at 20,009.34 and the S&P 500 added 37.13 points or 0.61 percent to end at 6,086.37.

The strength on Wall Street came as investors reacted positively to upbeat earnings updates and corporate news, and on continued optimism about rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year.

The tech-heavy NASDAQ was fueled by buoyant earnings and sales guidance by Netflix, as well as President Donald Trump's announcement of a $500 billion private-sector AI infrastructure investment plan involving Oracle, Open AI and Softbank.

Oil prices drifted lower on Wednesday, extending recent weakness on concerns about excess supply in the market due to the Trump administration's plan to maximize oil and gas production. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March fell $0.39 or 0.5 percent at $75.44 a barrel, extending losses to a fifth straight session.

Closer to home, Japan will see December data for imports, exports and trade balance later this morning. Imports are expected to rise 2.6 percent on year after slipping 3.8 percent in November. Export are called higher by an annual 2.3 percent, moderating from 3.8 percent in the previous month. The trade deficit is pegged at 55.0 billion yen following the 110.3 billion yen shortfall a month earlier.